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Bank of America: Cost-Cutting Loser (Update 1)

Regional banks were strong on Thursday, but the largest players were down for the session, with Bank of America having pre-announced its lousy earnings and Citigroup surprising investors by missing the consensus operating estimate by a mile.

With the company's Basel 1 Tier 1 common equity ratio increasing by 20 basis points during the fourth quarter to 7.3% as of Dec 31, Usdin said "we believe PNC is well on its way to its goal of 8.0%-8.5% by year-end 2013."

The analyst rates PNC a "Buy," with a $72 price target."

Interested in more on PNC Financial Services Group? See TheStreet Ratings' report card for this stock.

Capital One Disappoints

After the market closed, Capital One ( COF) reported fourth-quarter net income available to common stockholders of $825 million, or $1.41 a share, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59, among analyst polled by Thomson Reuters.

Earnings declined from $1.173 billion, or $2.05 a share, in the third quarter, with CFO Gary Perlin saying that "seasonal expense and margin trends led to a reduction in fourth quarter earnings compared to the previous quarter."

Capital One's revenue declined to $5.625 billion in the fourth quarter from $5.782 billion in the third quarter. The company provided 2013 guidance, saying it expected "average quarterly revenue levels in 2013 to be consistent with the fourth quarter of 2012, as a modest decline in earning assets will be offset by a steady to slightly higher net interest margin."

The company reported a sequential 45 basis point narrowing of its net interest margin, to 6.52%.

Philip W. van Doorn is a member of TheStreet's banking and finance team, commenting on industry and regulatory trends. He previously served as the senior analyst for TheStreet.com Ratings, responsible for assigning financial strength ratings to banks and savings and loan institutions. Mr. van Doorn previously served as a loan operations officer at Riverside National Bank in Fort Pierce, Fla., and as a credit analyst at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, where he monitored banks in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Mr. van Doorn has additional experience in the mutual fund and computer software industries. He holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Long Island University.